TACLOBAN CITY, July 21 -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Eastern Visayas on Tuesday clarified that local government units (LGUs) have no role in selecting beneficiaries of the government's Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) program.

DSWD Eastern Visayas Regional Director Grace Subong said in an interview that the list of beneficiaries was based solely on validated data provided by authorized national government agencies.

"As you may have noticed, our data comes directly from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Not a single record came from local government officials," Subong told reporters.

She explained that the DSWD relies on data from the PSA, which identifies h...